Sometimes the facts were more extraordinary than the fiction 
Irish writer and director Jim Sheridan first came to prominence in the late 80s with his first film, My Left Foot. He built on that success with The Field and two more Daniel Day-Lewis collaborations, In The Name Of The Father and The Boxer. The writer/director's own life was the inspiration for In America, which sees Johnny and Sarah (Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton) struggling to make a fresh start in New York, after losing their only son.
The film is partly autobiographical - for example in one scene, you dragged an air conditioning unit across a sweltering Manhattan. How much of it is your life?
I did steal the air conditioner, out of the theatre I worked in, and it did blow the house - all that happened. There was also a guy who used to wait outside the house every day. The first day, I gave him a quarter - that's in the film - and he looked at it in that way. So I used to give him a dollar after that. Then if I didn't see him for a week, he'd say I owed him seven dollars. But most of the characters were true.
Sometimes the facts were more extraordinary than the fiction. [For example] I went to America across the Canadian border, I got arrested for speeding and the policeman took us to a midnight court. I got fined $40 but we only had $38, so the two cops gave a dollar each. Then outside, the cops said "You know, we didn't mean to arrest you, our grandparents were from Kerry. Here's $10 to get back on the highway." But I suppose when you change one fact, which is that they have a dead child - it was my brother that died - you have to temper reality a little bit.
Sarah and Emma Bolger are astonishing as the young sisters. Was it hard to cast those roles?
I went into [the audition room] and there were ten kids there - the first batch - and I looked around and I just saw this kid Emma. I just said "Wow!" and instinctively handed her the script. She read it and I thought: She's good, but maybe she's a bit too good, maybe too self-confident. I gave it to another kid to read and then I felt my jacket being literally yanked and I turned around and it was Emma just looking at me. It was like I had crossed some line of etiquette. And she looked at me with pity and said, "Is she reading my part?" So I tried to stare her out and it didn't work, she just kept focussed, so I realised this kid has self-esteem, which is important. So I said, "No, nobody's reading your part, you're cast." So I really hadn't auditioned any of the other 200 kids. And she then said "My sister's down in the car".
Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton carry off convincing Irish accents in the film...
The real thing is that Paddy and Sam are convincing parents of two children who are not changing their accents at all. It's easy enough to do a thing with other adults. But when you've got those two kids, there's no way you can act. You just can't fake it. And that is the achievement. The main thing for me was to try to get a real family.
As actors, what qualities did they bring to In America?
I needed people who were chameleon enough that they could play Irish in Ireland and the crew wouldn't be going [raises eyes to heaven]. And at the same time I needed people who were strong enough and had the intelligence and the self-esteem. If you see their work in A Room For Romeo Brass and Under The Skin, I don't know if there are better performances in the last ten years.
In America is released in UK cinemas on Friday 31st October 2003.
